'Hey, Kaitlyn, come and take a look at this!'

'What is it?' she asked, her voice muffled as she walked down the hallway brushing her teeth.

Her roommate just waved her over. Kaitlyn sat in front of the T.V, slowing her brushing so she could hear the news report.

'Investigators won't yet reveal what exactly happened in the basement of this ordinary-looking house here in Foley in peaceful Baldwin County,' spoke a blonde reporter as she stood across the road from a cordoned off home.

'That's here!' Kaitlyn sputtered, spraying toothpaste over the carpet.

'But they have revealed that two young girls have been evacuated and are now recovering in hospital in stable conditions. The man at the centre of the investigation is deceased.'

'The police shot him,' Rachel said, her ringlets curling over her shoulders. She was half-lying her long body on the couch, only wearing a singlet top and a pair of boxer shorts before bed. The light from the lamp turned her red hair orange. 'They said he might have kept them in there for months, tormenting them, abusing them. They say he's a serial child rapist.'

'Sick,' Kaitlyn said. 'I hope he rots in hell.'

'Yep.'

Shaking her head, Kaitlyn returned to the bathroom to spit before rejoining her roommate. They were now showing a picture of the offender.

Kaitlyn frowned. 'He doesn't look like a criminal. He looks like a father.'

'He is a father. To two kids.'

'Jesus.' Slim, well-groomed, thick glasses—in actual fact, he looked like her fifth grade Maths teacher. Kaitlyn wiped her mouth. 'I suppose the real bad ones never really do look like criminals, do they?'

'Yeah, I guess.'

After lounging around and chatting for another thirty minutes, Kaitlyn yawned. 'Well, I'd better go to bed. Early start tomorrow.' She got up.

'That's right. You've got your interview tomorrow. Well, in case I don't wake up by then, good luck!'

Kaitlyn waved it away as she turned down the hall and entered her bedroom. After setting her alarm, she got into bed, drew up her blankets and curled beneath them.

It seemed like only minutes later when she woke to a bright light and a familiar figure shaking her shoulders. 'Kaitlyn!'

Startled, Kaitlyn sat up in a panic, blinking against the glare. 'What's wrong? What are you doing?'

'What am I doing? You were moaning in your sleep so loudly I had to come and check on you.'

'I was?'

'You were saying, "Let me go. Let me go!"'

'Why would I say that?'

'Don't ask me, you were the one moaning it.' She nodded at Kaitlyn's bed. 'Look what you've done.'

Kaitlyn looked down. Her blankets were half on the floor and one of her pillows had disappeared. Her bottom sheet was partially yanked off of the bed. Whatever she'd been dreaming about, it must have been violent.

Kaitlyn grabbed at her head with a wince. 'Sorry.'

'Are you okay?'

She nodded. 'Just a bit of a headache.'

'Here, I'll go get you some Panadol.' Rachel left.

Kaitlyn gazed around the room, confused, her heart racing from the sudden awakening. She reached over for her cup of water, only to stop again with a wince. But this time it wasn't in her head. It was in her belly.

'Could you bring some ibuprofen too?' she called out to Rachel. It wasn't surprising. She always got cramps on her heaviest days.

She winced again at another throb in her head. Clawing her fingers through her hair, Kaitlyn gazed down into her lap as a sudden flurry of images passed before her eyes. A cavernous dark hall. A marble throne. A man writhing on the floor with a gaping hole in his chest. He looked vaguely familiar but she didn't know why.

There was a man standing over him. No. Not a man. Something ... else. It was hard to see him against the aura of bright light surrounding him. The only thing she could see clearly were his eyes. They were blue and they seemed to bore straight through her.

Gripping herself, she shivered. There was more to the dream, she knew, but for the life of her, she couldn't remember it. She could only remember the feeling: a tingle in her skin; a heat in her cheeks; a burn in her pelvis. It made her feel both sick and strangely ecstatic.

'I'm back,' Rachel said. She stopped with a start. 'What's wrong? You look ill.'

'No, I'm fine.' She smiled weakly. 'Just nerves, I think.' She held out her hand for the tablets. Rachel gave them to her.

Her roommate frowned. 'Are you sure? You look like you've seen a ghost.'

Kaitlyn swallowed them down and chugged some water. Wiping her mouth, she put her cup back on her bedside table. 'Just nerves, I swear. I need to stop thinking about tomorrow.' And she hauled up the covers from the floor and lay back down.

Rachel nodded as she helped straighten her blankets out. 'Okay. Come and get me if you need anything. And don't push yourself too hard. If you're sick, you're sick. Even if it means postponing your interview.' She turned to leave.

'Right. Thanks, Rachel.'

With another nod, Rachel turned off the light and closed the door. Kaitlyn stared up at the ceiling, listening as her footsteps faded down the hall. Once she heard her door click shut, Kaitlyn got up and switched on the light. She then opened the door, making sure to kick the doorstop beneath it so it wouldn't shut, before huddling back under the covers. And she was huddling.

She couldn't understand why she was so panicked. Where had it come from? She never got so worked up. She winced again at the throb in her temples. Then grimaced at the sudden aching grip in her belly. Sometimes she really hated being a girl.

Rolling over, she buried her face into her pillow.

She woke next to the sound of her alarm clock. She'd been deep sleep and it felt like the hardest thing in the world to reach over and snooze it.

Ten minutes later, she woke again, only to snooze it again.

The next time she woke it was to a knock. Kaitlyn forced open her eyes. Warm, bright light flooded her room. Her eyes snapped wide open as she sat up with a start.

Rachel was standing at the door. They stared at each other. 'The interview!' they both cried.

Quickly, she went to the bathroom and got changed. She yanked her brush through her dark hair as she hastily pulled it into a bun. Next was her face. Using copious amounts of foundation, she covered her puffy eyes, then painted her dry lips with red lipstick. She was tall and it felt strange walking around in heels instead of joggers. They almost made her feel like an adult. She almost looked like an adult as she stood in front of the mirror in her business skirt and blouse.

Leaving the bathroom, she added some lip gloss before grabbing up a piece of toast and dashing outside as fast as she could.

'Good luck!' Rachel called after her.